Rats/Mice Cold Weather - PEST UK

Providing pest control services in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, London, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, West Midlands, West Sussex, Wiltshire. Est. 1985.

Rats and Mice in Cold Weather:
RatRats & Mice: The recent cold weather has resulted in rats being seen. The cold drives them into buildings & clear cold weather means they can be see scrounging from bins & bird tables.

 Rats and Mice in cold wether feeding in a kitchen in Hounslow

Rats and Mice in cold wether feeding in a kitchen in Hounslow

People are more likely to feed birds when it is cold so attracting rats & mice. This if unchecked can lead to the rodents entering buildings & the first evidence of rats or mice in a house is often noises in the loft. Once in the structure of the building the rats or mice go up the cavity into lofts.
Rats and mice in cold weather are more likely to take risks by entering buildings or exposing themselves in day light hours than they would in warmer conditions.
They will also follow the routes of pipes or cables through the cavity walls. Mice especially will do this & if they find their way into a kitchen, where small amounts of food are to be found, they will breed rapidly (because there is a food source) & droppings may be noticed in cupboards, draws or work surfaces.

There are many pipes & cables leading to the kitchen. As these emerge from the wall gaps are often left around the. Sealing these holes with cement or silicone can help reduce the initial & any future problems. Where rodents have been once is quite often visited again by other rodents. It is thought that they (the rats or mice) can smell where other rats & mice have been years previously.

On the proofing issue, mice can squeeze through a 1 cm gap. Rats do need a much larger space but any gaps larger than 2 cm is a risk. One of the many dangers is the chewing of cables. We are called out frequently due to failed alarm systems or broken appliances where rats or mice have chewed through cables. Another danger is that rodents ay foul water tanks in lofts or even fall in the tank and die. This can lead to the transmission of disease, in particular Weils disease which can be fatal. This disease is probably more likely in a domestic situation to be caught from mice as they urinate frequently (the virus is carried in the urine) & will do this on food preparation work surfaces.

For advice or a pest control treatment please phone PEST UK on 0330 100 2811. Alec Minter

BPCA – Rats
BPCA – Mice

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